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Betsy's Backyard Blog

Betsy Freese is an Executive Editor for Meredith Agrimedia, including Living the Country Life and Successful Farming. She grew up on a fruit farm in Maryland (see www.strawberryfarm.com) and has an agricultural journalism degree from Iowa State University. She and her husband, Bob, a veterinarian, live on a farm in Iowa where they raise sheep, hay, corn, and soybeans.

Drones are a wonderful technology for seeing your property. These drone photos (thanks to David Ekstrom at our sister publication Successful Farming) show the vast amount of water already backing up into our wetlands.

Half of my family's 400-acre farm is enrolled in the USDA Conservation Reserve Program for the next 10 years. We haven't done any dirt work on berms yet, but beavers built a dam in the ditch and have backed up water in the wetlands. Here are before and after photos to compare the property in July and on November 30.

This is looking south. The area to the south of the east-west ditch will be wetlands in 2017.

The beaver dam is on the left.

This is looking north. The field flooding north of the ditch is not all in the wetlands area, unfortunately.

Our family enrolled the most flood-prone 200 acres of our farm in the Wetland Restoration part of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). The project runs for 10 years. Work has begun to turn this area, which long ago was a natural wetlands before farmers settled the area, into a wetlands once again. The program allows us to seed native grasses and forbs until the ground is frozen this winter and up until July 1, 2017. It may take that long to find a dry spell in this naturally soggy area. The problem with doing any work on a wetlands is obvious – it’s often too wet to get in there.

Some of the corn could not be harvested because the area is already too wet, thanks to a beaver family that built a dam on our property line. It's almost like they heard about our plans and said, "Let us do the work for you."

This corn may not get harvested.

You can see the beaver dam in the middle of this photo. Water in the ditch has backed up into the field on both sides. We plan to leave the dam alone this winter.

The field from another angle, as it's being harvested. The combine in this photo is heading toward the beaver dam, which is on the east side of our property line.

The beavers are helping us remove scrub trees. We really need to put a trail camera on these guys.

This is why the deer are so fat in Iowa! The combine misses quite a bit.

Saturday night I was honored to be a guest at an Influencers Dinner in New York City. The Influencers Dinner is a secret dining experience started in 2009 by behavior expert and social engineer Jon Levy. Twelve thought leaders, tastemakers, and influencers from various industries attend each dinner.

During the course of the experience they are not allowed to discuss their professional career or share their last name. The dinner has a community design where Jon guides all attendees through the preparation of the meal. Once seated and eating, guests take turns guessing what their fellow attendees do professionally.

The attendees at my meal included the CEOs of tech companies, writers, comedians, TV news anchors, doctors, and more. After dinner, additional guests, including Jenna Wolfe and Stephanie Gosk, joined us for networking, conversation, and a few presentations (one from comedian and TV producer, Larry Wilmore).

What a beautiful fall. We mowed off the garden last weekend and found a watermelon hiding under the raspberry bush. That was a surprise! I took the last of the tomatoes and peppers to the kitchen and made salsa. The kale just keeps going after a light frost, so we left it -- along with the fall crop of cilantro. Bob mowed it off last month and the herb came back strong. We also found several butternut squash in the weeds. Once he mowed the garden, I saw the tips of sweet potatoes I had missed earlier, and dug those. I really have a weird garden.

We took five lambs to the locker for processing. Our local locker closed this summer, so we had to drive an hour away. We also took a load of 22 lambs to the livestock auction. Prices are down.

Bob has been busy washing all the farm equipment and driving it to the machine shed for winter storage. He considered trying to make a fifth cutting of alfalfa, but came to his senses.

At the livestock auction, these pigs sold for $24 each. That is cheap pork. Bob wishes he had bought five or six to feed this fall. Corn is cheap, too.

Caroline spent extended time this fall with my parents on their farm in Maryland. What a blessing.

My garden is so weedy, I didn't know I had these melons until I tripped over them. It's rained every third day this summer. That's my excuse. I'm not taking a garden photo unless the produce is cleaned up and on my kitchen table. How's your garden?

Courtney Yuskis helped me serve lamb at the Iowa Sheep Industry Association stand at the Iowa State Fair. The most popular item was seasoned lamb in pita bread with a cucumber sauce, lettuce, and tomato. Many people had a chance to try lamb for the first time. (Not sure why I wore a Bacon shirt to serve lamb!)

Bob and I attended a wedding in Willmar, Minnesota, at Stonewall Farms last weekend. The barn was lovely. I thought for a few seconds about converting our barn to a wedding venue. HA.

New adventures often begin this time of year. Caroline is heading to Maryland to help my parents on their farm and look for job opportunities. She made a car magnet for Caroline Freese Designs on Facebook.

My garden is out of control. Who knew two cucumber plants could produce so much? I throw all the overgrown veggies to the lambs, who play with them more than eat them. I have enough tomatoes to fill the back of a pickup truck each week.

It's all good.

Love this bowl Caroline painted for me before she left.

After about 5:00 at night, these insects make it hard to carry on a conversation outdoors. This cicada has left his shell.